Love's Lone Flower: The Queer Movie of The Year

Judging by just the title alone, there's nothing happy about it. It is an obvious indicator for a sad and lonely ending. I can't ask too much from the straight people. I'm just thankful there is a movie that deals with homosexuality as the center theme is enough for me. It doesn't take much to make me happy ( I hope).

The movie was made in 2005 by director Jui-Yuan Tsao. The 3 beautiful flowers that starr in this film are Anita Yuen, Angelica Lee, and Shu-shen Hsiao who played the role of Yuenfang, Wubao, and Juan-Juan respectfully. The storyline follows Yuenfang, the beautiful Anita Yuen, as she escaped to Taiwan from Shanghai in the 1940s. The opening scene had Wubao secretly leaving San-Lang at the train station in Shanghai. Why? It was a question I think the audience also wonders about.

I will try to paint a clear picture of the movie for you. The main protagonist is Yuenfang, a popular club hostess in Shanghai. One night, she rescued Wubao from two mobsters who threatened to sell her to whore house to pay off debt. Wubao became a singer at the club, and her voice and beauty caught the eyes and ears of a song-writer, San-Lang. San-Lang fell in love with Wubao and by chance, our protagonist caught the love flu too. San-Lang and Wubao were at the Shanghai train station ready to aboard the train when Wubao knew she could not leave without Yuenfang. I wish there were more love scenes (not sex scenes okay!) between Yuenfang and Wubao. Their story could take up the whole movie for all I care. Now back to the story, Wubao died during their escape to Taiwan. In Taiwan, Yuenfang continued to be a hostess. She met Juan-Juan, who reminds her so much of Wubao. Because of the resemblance, Yuenfang's heart opens once again. I know that Yuenfang cares for Juan-Juan, but I'm not sure that Yuenfang loves her for her. Yuenfang may have love Juan-Juan because the shadow of Wubao follows Juan-Juan. Get it? Back to the story. Juan-Juan got into a relationshop with a no-good man by the name of Ko. Juan-Juan entered into the world of drugs. As the story nears its end, Juan-Juan killed Ko in Yuenfang's complex. It was revealed that Juan-Juan was raped and molested by her father (or uncle) when she was younger.

I think the biggest flaw in this movie is the ending. To be just honest, I don't get the ending at all. The writer introduced a new character that I never heard or knew before. Why would the writer want to introduce a new character at the VERY end? I sensed there was some kind of relationship that had occurred between Yuenfang and the newly introduced female character. But that is all up for grabs. I still don't know what happen to Juan-Juan after she killed Ko. Is there going to be Love's Lone Flower 2 in the near future? I don't like endings that leave me wondering aimlessly.

There was no sex scene in this movie. It doesn't matter to me because I'm not a big fan of sex scenes anyway. There were two kissing scenes in the movie. I feel the kissing scenes were a little lacking. In the kissing department, the Western is ahead of Asian by 7 to 2. Maybe it's the way Asian kisses. I don't know. I don't know about you guys but when it comes to kissing, Asian actors tend to suck on their partner's upper lip for the whole 3 minutes without changing positions. Come on, put on a Christopher Columbus' hat and explore!!

Overall, this is one of the best Asian lesbian movies that I've seen. It is much better than Spider Lillies which is so overrated. I will definately trash Spider Lillies later. I will give Love's Lone Flower a 7.5 out of 10 stars.

(I usually don't reread my writing so if there are any mistakes, please pretend to be blind. I hate English but for that very same reason, I try to improve myself by loving the things I hate.)